Still, GM is convinced that electric vehicles are a winning proposition. Wednesday night at the Automotive News World Conference GM's North America chief Mark Reuss boldly proclaimed, "The electric car is not dead... We couldn't be happier … with the Volt."

The Chevy Volt has seen several sales targets slip. In 2011 GM promised to sell 10,000 Volts, but only sold 7,700. In 2012 it predicted 45,000 units sold, but only moved 23,000. At times the Hamtramck Assembly Plant where the vehicle is assembled was idled.

GM is forging ahead, looking to fill the idle capacity at the Hamtramck Assembly Plant with orders of the new Cadillac ELR, which is essentially a luxury reskinned Volt. At the conference Mr. Reuss revealed that the plant would begin producing Cadillac ELRs before the end of the year.

The 2014 Cadillac ELR will begin production later this year. [Image Source: GM]

He also teased at the upcoming second generation Volt design, which he claims "will be even better". He comments, "We'll get there. We will see the day when we have an affordable electric car that offers 300 miles of range with all the comfort and utility of a conventional vehicle. We're talking about a transformation here. And transformation takes time."

He admits that pricing needs to become more competitive, stating, "The rest of them will come around when technology advances electric vehicles to the point where they offer comparable performance at comparable prices."

GM looks to get more competitive with Chevy Volt pricing when it releases its second-generation successor to its current EV. [Image Source: Autoblog Green]

The determination from the Detroit automaker runs counter to its previous approach from the 1990s, where it debuted the EV-1 only to bail, pulling the plug in 1999 after three years of poor sales. GM was oft villainized for that decision for much of the last decade; now it is celebrated by EV advocates as a key proponent of the advanced vehicle push.

The optimism also contrast sharply with the grim rhetoric of Nissan at the auto show. While Nissan is sticking with its LEAF EV, it's dropping the price (to $28,800 USD) and admitting that so far the project has been a flop. LEAF EV sales were essentially flat, up only 1.5 percent from 2011 to reach 9,819 units. Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn admitted this week; "It was a disappointment for us."

If they had stuck with the original serial hybrid design, the Volt would have been a tremendous success. Whatever engineering difficulties they ran into however turned the Volt into a poorly performing hybrid. Why pay a similar amount to get less than a Prius?

This is a common misconception of people without a clear understanding of the design and engineering involved.

The direct engine coupling has almost nothing but upsides. It occurs at higher cruising speeds only and bypasses the generator, battery buffering, and electric motor cycles to give an overall increase in efficiency. It also increases the total horsepower available for such things as passing maneuvers because you have both the horsepower of the ICE engine and the electric motors combined, giving you higher performance.

People become fixated on the serial hybrid design and fail to realize this is actually an improvement. It is not just a standard hybrid design because of the high power electric motor, high capacity battery, and the ICE charging system.

The ICE is only connected to the drive wheels when it increases overall system efficiency.

The overall result is a higher efficiency, higher performance system. How is that worse than a pure serial hybrid?

the average guy is not an engineer who thinks about hypothetical benefits. the average guy looks at price, economy, performance and design. oh, and build quality, not something GM is noted for. so why this turd on wheels when there are better options out there?

that caddy does look good though, let's hope the tech works better second time 'round.

Yeah, well I understand the design and engineering involved and I call bull. The electric motor is basically underpowered in certain situations when the battery is depleted and this was a stopgap. A motor designed to be a generator will be very poor at direct drive and greatly increases the complexity of the drivetrain. This is why the MPG ratings are much lower in gas-powered driving than initial projections.

So it was done to even out performance in certain situaions, not to improve efficiency, which is decreased because of this need.

I don't understand the engineering (not an engineer), but I still call bull.

Why? Simple. Occams razor. The engineering that goes in to making this car's ICE capable of doing both sounds hideously complex and expensive. Price tag of the vehicle seems to confirm that. Having an ICE purely as a back-up range extender sounds vastly simpler, or having something like the Prius with a larger battery sounds simple as well.

This car tries to do both, and it's not working out too hot. I mean, it's great for technology geeks, who appreciate engineering marvels for the sake of engineering marvels, but complexity alone doesn't help sales.

Sure simple is nice, but you can't have both simple and efficient. There is a tradeoff to be made.

Also you are just guessing that the making the ICE capable of doing both is hideously complex and expensive. Not because you have any information or knowledge on the subject but only because it helps support your position. The engineering required is neither hideously expensive nor complex by the way.

The classic one-two punch of the Dunning-Kruger effect and Confirmation bias. Everybody is susceptible to it, don't get sucked in.

Remember a slight mental change from 'How can I prove I'm right' to 'How can I prove I'm wrong' changed the entire world. (the scientific method).

No, on the Volt the ICE is also connected to the wheels when you need more power.

The problem with the Volt's design (and pretty much all Hybrids) is that the motors/batteries are not strong enough to drive the car under all situations. The car would weight too much if the electic motors were powerful enough, since the car also includes an ICE. In the case of the Volt, it is only under the worse 5%, like driving at high speed up a steep incline. The Prius needs the ICE for almost anything outside of a parking lot:)

An all electric car doesn't have the added weight of an ICE, so they can increase the size of the Electic motors and batteries.

How are you deciding it is less than a Prius? Supposedly, GM determined that on average people drive it well over half the miles in all-electric mode, which gets over 100 mpg equivalent. So even half the time at 100 mpg and the other half at 30 mpg gets you 65 mpg on average. If you do short commutes every day, it would be even better.

I personally don't think any hybrids financially make sense right now. But if your driving patters are right, and with the government handouts, you can make a case for the Volt over the Prius.

It were just occasional long trips (which at 6k miles per year, it would have to be), wouldn't it be much cheaper to just rent a car for the those times?

I do not own a hybrid or electric car, as I just can't afford them at this point, and I live in a rental place without a good electric to charge a full electric, but think it is tech heading in the right direction.

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